registration for them in Germany and Sweden. In November 2015, Commission 3 visited the federal support facility in Leoben, which has been set up in what was originally a large building supplies store. In this facility 400 people were being accommodated, of whom around 300 were unaccompanied minor refugees. The conditions there were completely unsuitable for unaccompanied children and adolescents. Minors reported that they had gone on hunger strike after being attacked by other people. Families with small children and also women were worried that they too might be attacked. Commission 3 had already warned the head of the facility that fighting might become a problem, and shortly thereafter a largescale brawl did occur. Immediately thereafter, all unaccompanied minor refugees and families with small children were transferred out of this camp by the Federal Ministry of the Interior. The NPM continues to oppose the accommodation of unaccompanied minor refugees at mass facilities of this kind. For minors to spend months in unsuitable, overfull Initial Reception Centres without supervision or care and schooling or daily structure contravenes all principles with regard to specialist and socio-pedagogical aspects and children’s rights and humane treatment. For that reason, mass facilities for unaccompanied minor refugees as part of the federal support system would never be authorised as child and youth welfare and protection facilities under Land law. However, the Laender as the competent authorities for child and youth welfare and protection do not take custody until the individuals in question have been transferred to the reception conditions of the respective Land. Laender not taking custody Custody covers the areas of care and education, management of assets and legal representation. At federal initial reception centres, care and education for unaccompanied minor refugees is completely neglected. Moreover, too much time passes before someone takes appropriately skilled pedagogical responsibility for the unaccompanied minor refugees. As part of its monitoring activities, the NPM in its recommendations to the Federal Government and the Laender, pressed for solutions to these problems. In addition, the NPM has asked the Laender to immediately create enough places based on the numbers of unaccompanied minor refugees allocable to them. In addition to visiting federal initial reception centres, the commissions also visited facilities in the Laender that provide reception conditions under the Basic Provision Agreement. In many cases the commissions were impressed by the efforts of staff to provide the best possible care for the children and adolescents. However, the heads of these facilities themselves reported that the daily rates currently paid do not allow them to provide optimum care. They pointed out that if the daily rate for shared accommodations with a 1:10 staffing ratio were to be raised from 77 to 95 euros, they would to some extent be able to maintain their current level of services, which hitherto has only been financeable Commissions also visited Land facilities 69